Insult and Injury
by Raicheru
Summary: Ianto finds himself in need of rescue but is determined to reclaim his independence and escape on his own.


This is also posted on my AO3 account but I've decided to bring it over here as well.

Insult and Injury

Ianto came back to consciousness slowly, his usually orderly thoughts a strangely tangled mess of incoherence. His head was pounding and his body felt stiff. Shifting in an attempt to stretch his sore muscles, he found his movements limited. Ianto frowned as he twisted his hands where they were bound behind his back. The sticky hold of gaffer's tape pulled at the skin of his wrists. He shuddered to think what the adhesive was doing to the cuffs of his suit jacket. Inside his head a small, rational voice told him that his priorities seemed to be a little skewed but he couldn't argue back with the gag in his mouth. As a final insult, his ankles had been crossed and taped tightly together, leaving him completely immobilized.

Ianto's thoughts swirled lazily in a sudden wave of nausea as the engine gunned and he rolled up against the back of the rear seat. His situation became clear in a burst of clarity that made his eyes widen and his breath catch. He was in the SUV. In the boot. Sprawled across the groceries he'd purchased earlier.

His head started to throb and an unsettling fog descended over his thoughts again. Ianto let out a huffing groan behind the gag. They'd taken the clean white handkerchief from his pocket, shoved it in mouth and secured it with his tie. He tried twisting his head and working his jaw to force it out but it had been tied too tightly. The fabric pressed his tongue down and dug uncomfortably into the corners of his mouth. Plastic shopping bags crinkled beneath him as he tried to find a more comfortable position. Something cold was slowly making his right hand go numb and the corner of a box was digging painfully into his left hip.

After twisting futilely for a few moments, Ianto lay still as it finally occurred to him that he wasn't alone in the SUV. Sound returned in a rush like cotton had been pulled away from his ears. He could hear his captors laughing and joking up front but it was hard to make out what they were saying over the trash music blaring out of the speakers. The steady throb of the bass made his head pound. He had no idea who they were or what they wanted. Or if they were even human. Logic told him that most aliens probably wouldn't know how to drive an earth vehicle. But the blowfish had been rather adept at handling that stolen car so it was hard to say. Losing his focus, he spent a few moments contemplating the various modes of transport he'd come across in his tenure at Torchwood.

As the SUV took a sharp corner, Ianto was tossed about again. That calm voice of reason gently prodded him back to where he needed to be and his muzzy thoughts fell automatically into familiar analytical patterns. Part of him recognized that his calm may be driven by a concussion and that he was in danger. But panic would serve no purpose. He was currently trapped in the boot of the SUV with unknown assailants driving him to an unknown location. He had no idea how long he'd been unconscious but it had been early evening when he'd come out of Tesco with a full trolley of groceries. Darkness had fallen outside since then and he could see the rhythmic flash of streetlights that said highway more than city street.

First order of business was to find a way to free himself. The back of the SUV served a double purpose as both storage space and prisoner transport. But it had been completely empty when he'd set out so there was currently very little to work with. Any useful tools would be tucked away in compartments up front beyond the heavy mesh barrier between the back and the passenger area. The small multi tool on his keychain would work but a shift in position and a quick fumble of his grasping fingers revealed that his pockets had been emptied.

Ianto huffed a heavy breath through his nose and shifted his hips restlessly. There was nothing in the shopping bags beneath him that would help and he cursed Jack's last minute request that he pick up a couple of rolls of tape. But he supposed it was better than having his captors discover the weevil kit under the backseat. Getting out of thick cable ties or hand clamps would be much more difficult, if not impossible.

A small shiver trialed down his spine as he remembered the last time he'd been handcuffed. The scent of blood grew strong enough to make bile rise in his throat. There was a sticky tightness on the left side of his face. Wincing, Ianto felt something give as a fresh, warm wetness trickled down from his temple. His breathing picked up and he bit hard at the gag. Phantom fingers cupped his chin, pulling his head back to expose his throat. He was going to die. Just before he gave in to the fear and let a whimper well up out of his throat, he took a shaky, calming breath. Head wounds tended to bleed a lot, the rational voice reminded him calmly. He wasn't being bled for slaughter. Ianto curled in on himself and tried to stop the trembling that started to shake his frame. He fought to focus on something, anything else.

If he'd driven his own car, things would have turned out much differently. He usually took his own vehicle on shopping trips but it was currently in the shop and would be for the rest of the week. Somebody, namely Jack, had managed to wrap the front bumper around a parked car while chasing a particularly elusive weevil. Which never would have happened if he had let Ianto drive. Jack was rather more cavalier when it came to handling a vehicle. Ianto relaxed a little while his thoughts drifted as he considered the other things Jack handled, and rather well at that. But the rational part of his brain took control again and tried to get him back on track. Becoming aroused would just be a distraction he couldn't afford at the moment. Focus. How had he gotten to this point?

Tosh used public transportation, Gwen had lent her car to a friend, and Owen pointedly refused to let Ianto drive his. So he'd had to wait until the rest of the team returned from dealing with a Rift alert earlier in the day so he could take the SUV shopping. He'd been without his own vehicle for days and he resented being ferried back and forth between the Hub and his flat just to get to work. It didn't matter if it was Jack driving him in the SUV or if he was taking a cab. The blow to his independence bothered him enough that it was going to take more than a simple apology to make it better. Ordinarily, Ianto didn't mind staying overnight at the Hub but he much preferred that it was his choice and not something that was forced upon him by circumstance.

His ire had been escalating all week. After he finished shopping, he'd opened the boot of the SUV with at little more force than was strictly necessary before he'd started transferring the shopping bags from the trolley to the vehicle. Ianto had been so focused on what he was doing and stewing in his own irritation that he hadn't noticed anyone moving up behind him. A hand had gripped his collar and slammed him forward into the SUV. He remembered his forehead hitting the edge of the frame and there was a brief second to register an intense flare of pain before consciousness had slipped away from him.

There was a pause in the music that brought Ianto back to the present. His captors were laughing and he heard the clink of bottles. Part of him wondered what kind of mess he'd be cleaning up when this was all over. And he'd have to go shopping again as the perishables were most likely a lost cause at this point. Ianto shook his head to clear it and regretted the action almost instantly. He couldn't quote bite back the muffled groan of pain. There was more laughter from up front and he could hear bits of conversation but they didn't call him by name or mention Torchwood at all. The talk turned abruptly to football and the apparent merits of using some rather dubious sounding aphrodisiacs to pick up girls at the club.

Great. He'd been kidnapped by morons.

Ianto had no idea where they were headed or what they were going to do when they got there. But there was one thing he was absolutely sure of. Jack was coming. The SUV was tagged with multiple trackers and when he didn't return from his shopping trip in a reasonable amount of time and didn't answer his phone, Jack would come looking. But Ianto couldn't stand the idea of being rescued. Not again. He had to find a way to free himself and take control of the situation on his own. Twisting his hands and curling his fingers, he began to pick at the tape around his wrists.

It wasn't that Ianto didn't feel a surge of heat and a tightening in his core at the thought of Jack dashing to his rescue. He was just tired of being the one in jeopardy that needed to be saved because he couldn't take care of himself. Growling into the gag as he tore the nail of his left index finger on the tape, Ianto used the small flash of pain to focus his wavering thoughts. If he could face down cannibals, manhandle weevils, and tame a fucking dinosaur, he could get out of this. His efforts were rewarded by a small tearing sound. He could do this.

The SUV began to speed up, it's path swerving slightly on the road. Ianto fought not to roll his eyes. It would be just his luck to earn his freedom just to be killed due to the incompetence of a drunken carjacker that probably wasn't even old enough to buy liquor. He let out a disgruntled huff. Yanking his hands apart in a surge of frustration, he felt the tape tear completely. He immediately untied the gag and pulled handkerchief from his mouth, grimacing at the trail of saliva that dribbled down his chin. The tape at his ankles was much easier to dispense with and he ripped it away with little effort.

But just as he got free, the driver slammed on the breaks which threw him into the rear seat. He braced himself as best he could but his already concussed head hit the wire mesh. Stars burst in his vision but Ianto fought the blackness that followed to keep it from pulling him back into oblivion. There was shouting from outside and the sound of car doors slamming. He began to worry that his captors would be coming to retrieve him. If Jack had finally caught up to them, Ianto couldn't let himself be used at a hostage or bartering chip. He wouldn't let them take him. So when the boot opened, he kicked out hard. His foot hit something solid and he scrambled to get out of the back before they could recover. In his haste, he barely registered the familiar Londoner profanity.

Ianto was having trouble coordinating his movements as he tumbled out onto the ground. Equilibrium seemed to be somewhat out of his reach because when he lurched to his feet, he stumbled backward and would have fallen again. But instead of sprawling on the pavement, he fell against a warm, solid weight. He knew who it was without even looking. Relief and irritation warred within Ianto's mind as he twisted Jack's arms and clutched at his lapels. He wasn't quite sure if he wanted to hang on tightly or push him away.

"Was going to get free. Didn't need savin'."

"Would you like me to tie you up again and put you back in the trunk so you can try again?" Jack's tone was amused but there was a thread of worry under his words. That last part might have been Ianto's imagination. He was having trouble thinking. Jack's scent surrounded him and it was making his head swim and his nerves sing with tension. As the sensations shot straight to his groin, he yanked the other man down to attack his mouth with a desperate kiss.

There was a exaggerated groan from behind him. "Oi. We just saved your arse and all I got was a kick to the face. Shag on your own time, mate."

Ianto didn't have the energy to send back a witty rejoinder to Owen's complaint. His legs gave out on him and he sagged against Jack.

Jack tightened his grip and pressed his lips against Ianto's ear, his voice urgent despite the intimacy of his touch. "Stay with me."

"Hnn, S'ry, Jack" Ianto mumbled helplessly as consciousnesses slipped from his grasp once again.

. . . . . . .

The stringent scent of disinfectant stung Ianto's nose, making him sniff uncomfortably. But over the smell of strong cleansers, he caught a hint of something familiar and he sighed softly.

"Jack."

"Hey there, Gorgeous." Jack pressed a soft kiss to his forehead as he carded his fingers gently through Ianto's hair.

"That's harassment, Sir," Ianto mumbled as he tried to open his eyes.

Jack chuckled. "File a complaint."

Ianto finally pried his eyes open to look balefully at Jack. "Why, so I can end up finishing the paperwork myself because you can't be arsed to do it yourself?"

"You're awfully grumpy when your concussed."

"Terribly sorry, Sir," Ianto replied, his tone dry. "Be sure to include that note in my personnel file so it can be addressed in my next performance review." He glanced around the hospital room and eyed the IV that was hooked up to his arm. "How long was I out?"

"Almost an hour." Jack's voice went a bit flat and Ianto turned his attention back to the other man's face. He'd learned how to read Jack's expressions and even though he looked relatively calm, Ianto could see the emotion swirling in his eyes. He tried to shift into a sitting position but a sudden wave of dizziness made him regret the decision. Jack reached out to steady him and adjusted the controls to raise the bed.

Ianto's head was starting to throb again and he winced. He reached up and felt the bandage at his left temple. Jack's fingers curled around his own and pulled his hand back down.

"Leave that."

"I was caught unaware." Ianto sighed and swallowed the bitterness that welled up. "It won't happen again."

"Considering what you were up against, I'm just glad you're still in one piece."

Ianto resisted the urge to roll his eyes, knowing it would only aggravate his growing headache. "Yes, I'm sure Cardiff is now safe from two teenage tossers who had nothing better to do on a Thursday night than go joyriding in a stolen car."

"And the Akellian virus that was controlling them."

Ianto's brows went up in surprise and he ignored the sting of the medical tape holding the bandage pulling at his skin. The virus was something he'd read about in the archives but there hadn't been an outbreak in more than a decade. It was a virus that functioned like a hive mind with a single entity controlling several others. The tricky part was that hosts rarely exhibited any out of character behavior so it was difficult to tell who'd been infected. It used a person's natural instincts and habits to carry out a higher purpose.

"Did you find the source? If the controller is still out there. . ."

"We did and it's been neutralized. It was the Rift fluctuation that Owen and Tosh were tracking earlier today. Turned out, it was trying to get back to where it came from."

Which meant it would have taken whatever hosts it had infected with it through the Rift. But even though the leader had been taken care of, the file said the virus tended to be pretty rough on the host bodies. Many of them didn't survive to see their mission completed.

"Did we lose anyone?"

"Only you for a little while." Jack's expression tightened as he rubbed his thumb over the back of Ianto's hand.

"I'm right here, Jack."

"And for a few hours, you were missing." The weight of that worry was apparent in the set of Jack's shoulders but he continued to hold Ianto's hand gently. "It seems the last two hosts started to improvise when they stopped getting instructions. They had a file on you at their place and had been following you all week. By the time we found it, they already had you."

"Why me of all people?" Ianto wondered aloud, his voice slurring a little. He was starting to get tired but it wasn't the blackness of impeding unconsciousness, just fatigue of a rough evening catching up to him.

"They probably thought you might be able to tell them what to do next. They'd gotten hold of a few stray files from UNIT that listed you as the head archivist for Torchwood." And judging by the dangerous glint in Jack's eye, that would be addressed shortly and with force.

Ianto contemplated how he'd narrowly dodged an interrogation session that would most likely have been painful and unpleasant. And then he started to laugh.

Jack seemed torn between concern and amusement as he watched him carefully.

Ianto took a moment to get his breath back before letting out a long sigh. "Is it wrong to be relieved that I was assaulted by alien life forms instead of a pair of ordinary wankers?"

"Maybe not wrong exactly," Jack said carefully.

Ianto settled back into the bed and huffed. "They got the drop on me so easily." But it wouldn't really have mattered. The virus boosted the host's natural strength and if they had been determined to get their hands on him, there would have been no avoiding it without possibly endangering bystanders. But there was just no dignity in being kidnapped and tossed in the boot with the groceries.

Jack smiled again and leaned in to kiss the bruised corners of Ianto's mouth before placing a soft kiss on his lips. "I believe your dignity is intact."

Ianto hadn't realized that he'd said that last part out loud and he blinked at Jack. "I don't think I'm quite lucid," he said calmly.

"Which is why you should get some sleep until you are."

Ianto lay back and sighed. It was getting more difficult to keep his eyes open. "But I need to go shopping. The groceries have most likely spoiled by now."

"Later," Jack assured him quietly as he brushed a few stray strands of hair away from his forehead.

The motion was starting to lull Ianto to sleep and he sighed again as he let himself relax. His resentment over the car didn't seem important right now and he secretly enjoyed having Jack fuss over him. His only wish was that he didn't need to be placed in mortal jeopardy to receive such tender treatment. But he felt Jack's hand holding his own and knew that the other man would stay with him even after he fell asleep. A small smile pulled at his lips as he considered that he'd had worse days.


End file.
